About Us

Rosie was appointed Co-Chair of the CLA Board on 1st June 2019 and reappointed for a second term in 2022.

Rosie is currently Chief Executive of the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council, and in 2022 completed 5yrs as a Civil Service Commissioner and second term as a Council Member, General Optical Council and Chair of a Research Ethics Committee for NHS Health Research Authority. Before building her extensive non-executive career in the private, public and voluntary sectors, Rosie worked in the publishing world and until recently was a Trustee and Chair of the Development Board of Book Aid International.  Since March 2019, Rosie has been Chair of Publishers’ Licensing Services.

Neil Burgess is an agent, editor and curator who has been involved in photography for thirty-five years. Originally working in the public sector he was the Director of Liverpool’s Open Eye gallery for five years before becoming the founding Director of Magnum Photos London. He later became the Bureau Chief of the parent company Magnum Photo’s Inc in New York. In the mid-1990s he founded NB Pictures which has represented some of the world’s best-known photographers, including Sebastiao Salgado, Don McCullin, Nick Danziger, Annie Leibovitz and Simon Norfolk. He has twice served as Chairman of World Press Photo’s international jury and taught workshops in journalist photography for them and for the British Council. He joined the Board of DACS in 2017.

Andrew is Vice President, Secondary Schools Portfolio in the School Qualifications Division at Pearson.

He is responsible for the product teams who develop GCSE and A-Level qualifications for the UK and international markets as well as digital and print resources and services for secondary schools in these markets. Andrew has spent more than 20 years in the education sector with Prentice Hall, Collins, Trinity College London and Pearson, holding a variety of senior roles, as well as spending 4 years with the art and design publisher, Thames and Hudson.

Catherine has worked in senior leadership roles for over 20 years in a career that has crossed sectors, from research, science and technology, and higher education to professional services and national institutions.

Prior to her appointment as Private Secretary to The Duchess of Cambridge in 2017, Catherine spent four years as Chief Operating Officer and Associate Dean at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School, where she had also studied earlier for her MBA.  Previous to this, she was Chief Executive of The Middle Temple, which combined the running of educational, not-for-profit activities with the oversight of a heritage estate and commercial property portfolio in central London.  In her past career, she has led the grant-giving operations of The Wellcome Trust, a global charitable foundation, and directed Oxford University’s institution-wide research-related services.  At Oxford, Catherine was closely involved in the development of the University’s Intellectual Property policy, IP licensing and spin-out companies.

Catherine has served in non-executive roles on the Boards of a number of national institutions, including The Met Office and The Charity Commission.  In addition to being an Independent Director for CLA, she currently serves on the Boards of The National Physical Laboratory and CPI Ltd, and she is a Trustee of The Royal Academy of Dance.

Mat Pfleger is the Chief Executive of CLA and has over 25 years experience in leadership roles across the rights and content industries. As part of the leadership team at CLA, Mat has evolved CLA to become a digital and customer-focused business that simplifies copyright for both users and creators of content.

Susan Voss is the Legal and Compliance Director/DPO for Bauer Media (UK).

Susan is responsible for managing teams across Data Protection (UK and Nordics) and Syndication & Licensing.  Susan is part of the legal team and specialises in commercial law, property, copyright, privacy and regulatory compliance issues.  She has worked at Bauer Media for 22 years in a variety of compliance roles.  She is also a trustee for Bauer Media’s Cash for Kids charity.

Barbara is Chief Executive at the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society, the UK rights management society for writers of all genres of literary and dramatic copyright works. She joined ALCS in 2004 spending over 17 years developing and heading up their advocacy programme supporting authors’ rights both in the UK and internationally. She is currently Chair of the Society of Audiovisual Authors in Brussels and Chair of PLR International.

After graduating with an honours degree in Fine Art, Paul Seheult began as an editorial photographer for educational publishers and as a commercial photographer for the vibrant creative sector in Sussex. His editorial work and travels led to the creation of his picture library containing both his work and that of a growing network of photographer friends. His photo libraries have been members of BAPLA for over 25 years. Paul has been an Executive Director of BAPLA for much of that time, representing the interests of the small libraries and agencies. He is now the CEO of PICSEL, a new collecting society for image rights holders, bringing equitable competition to the sector, made possible by the introduction of the UK Collective Rights Management regulations transposed in 2016.

Christian Zimmermann is Chief Executive of DACS. He has spent his career protecting artists’ rights, having worked at DACS for 16 years. He is a qualified solicitor in the UK and Germany with a Masters in Intellectual Property Law. Before joining DACS in 2006, he worked at the Association of Photographers (AOP).

As a skilled and experienced negotiator, Christian has defended and advocated for artists’ rights throughout his career. He led negotiations with the government to fully implement the Artist’s Resale Right in 2012 which culminated in more artists and beneficiaries being able to benefit from the Right in the long term. He also steered DACS through an industry wide valuation with the Copyright Licensing Agency to protect visual artists share of collecting licensing revenue.

James McConnachie is a writer and a non-executive director of the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society, currently serving as chair of the Finance and Audit Committee. Since 2012 he has been editor of the Author, the journal of the Society of Authors, tracking industry trends and developments in copyright law and technology, with a focus on the rights and interests of working authors. For the last 15 years, he has reviewed non-fiction for the Sunday Times, and has written for many other publications, notably the Spectator and Times Literary Supplement. He is currently working on a book about a Himalayan mountain.

Okechukwu Nzelu is a Manchester-based writer. In 2015 he was the recipient of a Northern Writers’ Award from New Writing North. His debut novel, The Private Joys of Nnenna Maloney (Dialogue Books, 2019), won a Betty Trask Award; it was also shortlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize and the Polari First Book Prize, and longlisted for the Portico Prize. In 2021, it was selected for the Kingston University Big Read. His second novel, Here Again Now (Dialogue Books, 2022) was shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature Encore Award and longlisted for the Polari Prize, the Jhalak Prize and the Diverse Book Awards. He has made several appearances on national radio, and is a regular contributor to Kinfolk magazine. He is a Lecturer in Creative Writing at Lancaster University, and a non-executive director at ALCS and CLA.

Tom West is Chief Executive of Publishers’ Licensing Services (PLS).  He has over two decades experience in collective rights management, representing the interests of publishers and promoting respect for copyright, previously as PLS’ Chief Operating Officer. He has played a leading role in the development and implementation of PLS strategy and services; working closely with publishers, licensing partners and other stakeholders to oversee the distribution of over £400m in licensing revenues to publishers during that time.

Mark Walford has worked in academic publishing for over 35 years, in a number of roles and at a number of publishers. Since 2005 he has been responsible for Sage’s global rights and licensing programme and for contracts, copyright and legal risk for Sage International and, more recently, Sage’s sustainability programme. Mark sits on the PA Public Affairs & Policy Committee and the STM Legal Forum. He has a long-standing interest in and commitment to collective licensing.

Mat Pfleger is the Chief Executive of CLA and has over 25 years experience in leadership roles across the rights and content industries. As part of the leadership team at CLA, Mat has evolved CLA to become a digital and customer-focused business that simplifies copyright for both users and creators of content.

Sarosh qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1999 with Kingston Smith, a mid tier UK accounting practice. After qualifying he gained industry experience working for Enron as a Finance Specialist and then for Right Managements Consultants Ltd as an European Controller. Experience was then gained managing finance teams for both UK and EMEA accounts functions at small and medium sized business services companies where the focus of the work was transforming an underperforming finance function and providing financial insight to business decisions and strategy. Sarosh joined CLA as the Head of Finance in 2016 and was promoted to Finance Director in March 2021 and is accountable for the full finance function which includes budgeting, forecasting, statutory accounts and internal controls.

Serena joined CLA in June 2023 as General Counsel. Serena is a qualified solicitor in England and Wales and has over 15 years’ legal and commercial experience across multiple sectors, having held senior positions at South East Water, the global digital transformation consultancy Kin + Carta (formerly St Ives plc and now part of Valtech) and The Economist Group, where she worked both in London and in Geneva, Switzerland.

In her role as General Counsel and Company Secretary, Serena is responsible for the legal, governance and policy functions at CLA. Serena is also chair of CLA’s Data Governance and Policy Committee.

Serena is Chartered Governance Professional and member of the Chartered Governance Institute, formerly known as ICSA.

Justin has over 20 years of experience in successfully leading and managing commercial departments in the content and licencing industry.

During that time, Justin has worked for some of the largest and most cutting-edge media content organisations including, Getty Images, Press association and News Corp-owned Storyful.

Justin joined CLA in July 2020, and leads the commercial strategy and vision for the organisation.  He is also responsible for product strategy, roadmap.

Andy Martin is the HR director of CLA and has over 25 years of experience in leadership roles across the not-for-profit and content industries. As part of the leadership team at CLA, he has supported the evolvement of the company to become a digital and customer focused business ensuring that CLA’s culture provides employees with the skills and opportunities to thrive.